« I belong to neither party and have voted for both Democrats and Republicans — but because I believe him to be a defender of the Constitution and a public servant of honor and of grace at a time when extreme forces threaten the nation. I do not agree with everything he has done or wanted to do in terms of policy. But I know him to be a good man, a patriot and a president who has met challenges all too similar to those Abraham Lincoln faced.
Here is the story I believe history will tell of Joe Biden. With American democracy in an hour of maximum danger in Donald Trump’s presidency, Mr. Biden stepped in the breach. He staved off an authoritarian threat at home, rallied the world against autocrats abroad, laid the foundations for decades of prosperity, managed the end of a once-in-a-century pandemic, successfully legislated on vital issues of climate and infrastructure and has conducted a presidency worthy of the greatest of his predecessors. History and fate brought him to the pinnacle in a late season in his life, and in the end, he respected fate — and he respected the American people. »
— Historian Jon Meacham in a guest column at the New York Times on the legacy of President Joe Biden.
Biden restored calm, stability, and sanity to the federal government after a coup attempt and the horribly botched Trump response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He did more than anybody else outside Ukraine to keep it from falling into the kleptocratic totalitarian hands of imperialist Vladimir Putin. And Biden's infrastructure and stimulus programs have restored American manufacturing jobs which Trump's empty bombastic promises failed to do.
Historically, imagine combining Gerald Ford's modesty, John F. Kennedy's determination to prevent the spread of totalitarianism, FDR's efforts to create jobs, with Barack Obama's inclusiveness and you come close to defining the Biden presidency.
Of course Biden still has six months to go. He can now concentrate on governance without the distraction of an election campaign.
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I'm playing Pandemic Legacy Season 1 with my owner cus he finally has someone who'll play all twelve months with him, got through april, I want to vent abt the story but it's a one of a kind box that can only be experienced once like a cardboard outer wilds or something so spoilers are even more taboo than normal. so like, pandemic legacy season 1 players ONLY beyond the line, im serious.
why zombies. why are there just zombies now. i was into it, i got hooked, why would they do this. it was clean, it was grounded, the mortal danger was trauma and societal collapse not a literal monster. i'm so disappointed.
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That lesson is that we are a family, undivided by religion or race or geographical proximity. We are an international community. But it is this notion of humanity as family that is being attacked right now, from the terrified women and children in basement shelters across Ukrainian cities to women’s rights activists in Afghanistan, human rights activists in Syria, climate activists in Brazil and LGBTQ+ activists in Bangladesh. We have entered a new era, with massive global challenges ahead of us. We cannot deal with these challenges by reviving the forces of isolationism, tribalism and a me-first approach. Likewise, we cannot be single-issue people: if you care about climate injustice, you also need to care about gender injustice. Women and children are affected disproportionately by environmental destruction, and whenever there is massive displacement, there is also an alarming increase in sexual violence and gender discrimination. If you care about gender inequality, you should also care about racial inequality, class inequality, regional inequality and so on. Unless we connect the dots, nothing will improve.
— Elif Shafak on the legacy of lockdown: The pandemic made it clear there is such a thing as society
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Mario Legacy Challenge: Outtakes
So basically moments that happened during my Mario Legacy gameplay (1964-1990) that I took screenshots of but aren't really considered "canon" to the timeline.
Btw my headcanon ages for the premade characters from The Sims 4 don't even align with what they are in this save.
Starting with the Robotnik household in 1964, before the Mario family even began, we have a fire starting on day 2. Colin is on fire, but fortunately, his uncle Geraldo is there to save him.
And is Julian Robotnik protesting against (or for?) COVID-19? I'm sorry, but it's the wrong Tokyo Olympics for that!
GeekCon is happening near Mario's new home, with his mother attending! 😮 I didn't think she even knew this place existed!
But it's not just the Robotniks. The Vatore siblings are here too! Lilith Vatore seems to be... sleeping on a bench? Even though she's a vampire?
During the night this screenshot was taken, I also spotted Caleb and some random guy in a raccoon costume. (No, I'm not posting every instance of premade Sims appearing. The only reason why I even posted this is because Caleb and Lilith being around in this time period isn't really that implausible. But I still don't it's very likely they were in Mario's home dimension, so I'm not considering this "canon".)
For some reason, Mario's evil grandma Jennifer keeps calling him (because she totally has his contact information and interdimensional phone calls are a totally normal thing in the 1960s). One particularly OOC call is when she wants to go on a date with Dennis Kim. Yes, the base game character. (I guess this is just what happens when you don't delete the premade characters.)
When Colin ages up into a teen, the game seems to be making him into a furry for some reason... not shown here but he even has the Friend of the Animals aspiration. Could this have something to do with me placing the Robotnik lot in Brindleton Bay? Still, not really fitting for the character who's openly racist against Mobians.
Regan wants to have a romantic relationship with Duane Talla, a premade Sim from Island Living (I didn't realize that at the time of taking this screenshot). Based on the timing of this, he must have only recently aged up into a young adult, since he's a teen at the start of the game. I said yes, but at least it didn't actually result in a relationship forming. (It never does, as far as I know...)
During the Humor and Hijinks Festival (or New Year's festival to celebrate the start of 1970), Mario joins the jokesters. His enemy uncle (the main reason why he left the Robotnik family) is also there, of course on the opposing team.
In 1972, Mario and Pauline go on a date, but are interrupted by none other than the infamous Agnes Crumplebottom, who for some reason decided to travel to a romantic dating spot in San Myshuno.
In late 1972, Luigeena and Tony adopt a toddler.
I ended up moving her to a different household with no relationship with her previous parents. She is not considered "canon" to this series, as Luigeena and Tony's children are the biological twins born in 1973.
And now a timeskip to 1981, when the Mario brothers have aged up into infants and Jumpman (Jumpman is the same Sim who was previously referred to as Mario, and "Mario" from now refers to his son - a similar thing also applies to his wife Pauline, who is now referred to as Lady and their daughter is Pauline) has been modifying the infant beds. While editing the apartment in build mode, one of the infant beds somehow ends up out of bounds. It can't be deleted and it's blocking the way to the Marios' home.
And so begins the bugged bed "subplot", where I spent an hour trying to resolve this glitch in order to resume gameplay.
Failed methods to get rid of the bed include going to manage worlds and back (which only causes Lady to leave work early), using a spellcaster Sim to set it on fire (it burns it somewhat, but firefighters arrive before it can be destroyed) and setting it as head (makes a duplicate). A kleptomaniac also can't swipe it if they have a low mischief skill.
Finally, the problem is solved! Once she has mischief level 10 (which, yes, I cheated), Bianca Barov manages to steal the crib and save the legacy!
In my main 1985 post, I included an awkward conversation between Pauline and Emmalyn. But here's one particular thing that happens: Pauline suggests that Emmalyn should get together with Kaori (who's already married) and she actually considers it! I actually tried to pick some random guy in the list of available Sims, but must have accidentally picked Kaori.
Later on during the year, Jumpman catches Emmalyn apparently WooHooing. He asks Emmalyn if she knows Kaori (of course, Jumpman would have no reason to suspect that Kaori is there, but it's mostly just me being curious). Fortunately, she does say that she hasn't met Kaori.
Kayla's pre-makeover look when she aged up into a teen (the light is just from aging up, it's not any CC).
During Kayla's visit in early 1988, she leaves the apartment in order to age up.
After the whole circus plot, Harrison Gibbs (Jumpman's boss in the circus career) ended up getting married to a now grown-up Maira Watson (a premade character from Cottage Living). They live with Donkey Kong Junior and Cranky Kong (yes, I actually renamed him in-game, even though it's unlikely we're going to see him again).
Turns out Harrison also has 2 kids with random Sims (those MCCC kids generated between 2 Sims who don't even know each other), and it even connects the family tree with Lana Yee's family as well as Kayla (Pauline's best friend), Juanita (Mario's friend from school) and most of the premade characters from the packs I have.
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the cringe police don’t want you to know that the bird dating sim hatoful boyfriend is actually a fantastically written bait and switch slow burn horror comedy that is not only genuinely entertaining, not only a genre defining piece of parody work, but also back in 2011, accurately depicted a post-pandemic rise in ethnonationalism. it’s the best game in the world and reading this back maybe the cringe police should come for me actually but it’s fine just carry on my legacy and play hatoful boyfriend
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